Endarkment : Jeffrey McDaniel (pg 31-42)

1. Endarkment: Jeffrey McDaniel (pg 31-42) By Matt Chavez

2. Jeffrey McDaniel • Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1967. • Has received both a MFA (creative degree in fine arts) and a BA. • First began publishing poems in magazines during grad school. • He’s an author of five books of poetry. • Since 2001, he teaches creative writing at Sarah Lawrence College in the Hudson Valley.

3. 9 poems within pages 31-42 include… Meditations of the Death Penalty Guidebook to Nowhere Lament for a Shriveling Flesh Plant I Send You This Leaf Don’t Touch It! Good Compulsively Allergic to the Truth New Word for Tongue Arrivederci Lipstick

4. Meditations of the Death Penalty (pg 31) *A man on death row starts to fantasize about the different ways of dying (hanging, electrocution, and lethal injection). *Refers Lethal Injection as a “lullaby serum”. *He seems to infer electrocution to be the most uncomfortable way of dying out of the 3 as he describes the experience as “… my skin stretches like a party balloon to the point of breaking intestines crackling like bacon?” (32) *Interesting point in saying that being hung wouldn’t be so bad. *“At least it’s out in nature, it’s theatrical”

5. Guidebook to Nowhere (pg 33) • McDaniel explains that he wears an eye patch over his right eye because he wants to protect it from the negativity his left eye sees in this world. He wants to see the beauty in this world still and covers his left eye as a symbolism of seeing things through a different set of eyes (perspective). • “I’m saving the eye for a rainy day, saving it from all this crap” (33). • He differentiates the ideas between “real” and “manmade”, as he only wants to perceive things more simpler than compared to things that are manmade. Which can be seen as complicated.

6. Lament for a Shriveling Flesh Plant • McDaniel compareshumans to plants. He explains that humans have to be watered down in the same way plants, but need to be watered down inside and out while stating their independence. • He uses a dandelion as an example of a flower that humans can be: small and fragile. • Main message is about social conformity, especially in the comment in where he states, “Each morning you rise and apply glue stick to your lips, sealing the words in” (34). He insists that we hide our true thoughts to be part of the social norm.

7. I Send You This Leaf (pg 25) McDaniel uses a leaf as a symbol to represent his memories and him letting go of them. He “gives” the leaf to the person he writes as a way of moving on from his past. Compares the leaf to different body parts of the person whom he writes to. “not because I placed it on my tongue and tasted your earlobe” (35). “not because it’s the lit-match color of your nipples” (35). “not because it’s shaped like your eye when you leaned forward and blew out the candle” (35). The person blowing out the candle could mean that they ended the relationship or friendship with McDaniel.

8. Don’t Touch It! (pg 36) • McDaniel explains that if you do something that isn’t good for you, then consequences will occur with the use of slippery slope. • He takes advantage of cause and effect throughout this poem. • “if it leaves a stain, you will always remember it if you always remember it, it will block the road if it blocks the road, you will have to climb over it” (36) The road that has something blocked on it could represent a path to moving on from the “stain” that clouds your mind. “if you become superstitious, you will cover the mirror” (36) Covering the mirror could mean forgetting yourself and who you are. Being “naked” could represent exposing your weaknesses.

9. Good (pg 37) McDaniel writes about the perception of good and bad in life. The idea of good and bad take on different meanings depending on the situation. Ex: “The little boy will be good from now until Christmas and then he will be bad again” (37). Ex: “The little girl lifting the dollhouse over her head and hurling it to the ground, will not be good no matter what” (37). Ex: “The opposite of good night is good riddance” (37).

10. Compulsively Allergic to the Truth (pg 39) McDaniel talks about excuses and hiding the truth by lying. “I am decorating your labyrinth, tracking up snapshots of all the people who’ve gotten lost in your corridors” (39). He uses that to explain that people who make up different lies leave the people being lied to confused and not sure of how to take this information and whether it is true or not. “..driving while blindfolded with a raspberry-scented candle” (39). Found this particular text interesting as the raspberry candle could represent the sweet words that people hear but are being blinded from the truth that the person is hiding,

11. New Word for Tongue (pg 40) McDaniel explains the limitations that our languages provide us when it comes to expressing our emotions and thoughts. What could be a beautiful and meaningful statement could be restricted to a single syllable. “… then the uh of two men pushing a piano” (40).

12. Arrivederci Lipstick (41) • A man is being beheaded and expresses the loss of love between him and his wife. • The poem ends with the wife punting his head to the sky. Which could be interpreted as not wanting to be with him and pushing him away out of her life.

13. Personal thoughts: